Should parents be held more accountable to tackle teenage knife crime?

[Gotthatbigpenergy]

Hi all,

I wanted to share an idea I’ve been thinking about to help tackle teenage knife crime, and I’d love to hear your thoughts.

In the US, there have been recent cases where parents were charged after their children committed school shootings because they failed to lock up their guns properly. This got me thinking about whether we should adopt a similar approach here in the UK when it comes to knife crime.

My suggestion is this: for children under 16, parents should be held responsible for ensuring their kids don’t have unsupervised access to knives. If a child leaves the house, parents should make sure all knives are secured—whether that means reducing the number of knives in the home or locking sharp knives away in a safe box.

Parents need to take responsibility for the children they are raising and the environments they are creating at home. By implementing stricter rules around knife access, we might reduce the risk of these weapons ending up in the wrong hands.

Of course, this shouldn’t just be about punishment or blame. The government should also step in by increasing funding for early intervention services for families, so parents and teachers can get help if they feel they’re losing control of a child. We need to tackle this issue at its root by supporting struggling families and identifying warning signs early.

https://apnews.com/article/james-crumbley-jennifer-crumbley-oxford-school-shooting-e5888f615c76c3b26153c34dc36d5436

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9wj0vyl8xko.amp

I agree.

Exactly, and ignores the fact that a lot of “nice” middle class areas have a lot of “nice” middle class people who think nothing of taking a few lines of cocaine every now and again.

Who do they think is running that drug?

Stupid idea.

Knives are first and foremost culinary tools.

My teens are independent and cook their own meals often. I am not going to infantilise by not giving them access to them.

Are you expecting teens to get keys to the knife lock box on their 21st or something?

I think knife crime isn’t an issue that has just sprung up since the toddlers of 14 years ago grew up so I’m not sure there’s much in that theory as a direct link.

Although I do think the loss of Surestart is a terrible thing.

I would love to punish shit parenting- and that isn’t limited to kids who fall into gangs. However in the case of the most recent death, I think the mother should absolutely be punished- she let that boy down in unimaginable ways.

I think there should be longer sentences for carrying weapons. Even first offences should carry a long sentence

I used to work with mentally ill adolescents. Which meant working with their families. You got the whole gamut from involved, caring, good parents whose kid was out of control/in with the wrong crowd, to the sort of parents who barely know their child is alive, let alone where they are, and what they are doing. The second sort will not respond to any initiatives unfortunately. And the former dont deserve any further pressure.

Parents should absolutely be responsible for their children. Blaming the government is a complete cop out. This latest appeal to online companies to be more diligent in knife sales to 'younger people' is very much akin to parents blaming the government in the first place.
Apart from the fact that if someone really wants to commit an atrocity such as these latest killings, there are so many kitchen implements available that it cannot make much of a difference.